“Some people come to the monastery but never come to the meditation hall to hear the Dhamma. They sit way out there, chatting with their children and grandchildren, and don’t understand anything. This isn’t coming into the monastery like people. This is coming into the monastery like chickens.
Chickens bring their baby chicks into the monastery, scratching around for dog shit and pig shit. They’re not looking for anything else. This is not the right way to come to a monastery. It’s coming into the monastery without seeing the monastery, coming into the monastery without seeing monks. It’s like a fish living in water without seeing water, or an earthworm living in the dirt, eating the dirt, but not seeing the dirt.
It’s the same with us. We come into the monastery but we’re not acquainted with the monastery. We come into the monastery without reaching the monastery. This gives rise to problems not only for us but also for our children and grandchildren. We say that coming to the monastery gives rise to merit, and it’s something that human beings have to do. We see our parents coming to the monastery and we simply follow along. As a result, when we’re in our forties or fifties and someone teaches the Dhamma, speaks about the practice, about the Buddha, Dhamma, or Sangha, we don’t understand anything. We don’t know anything at all.”